You’d be hard pressed to find a pothole in Loudoun County, Virginia. The roads are freshly paved and the schools are new — all paid for by tax revenue from the 200 or so oversized buildings in the county known as data centers.
“It has completely changed our economy from a failing economy to one of the strongest local economies anywhere in the country,” said Buddy Rizer, the county’s economic development director. Over the past two decades, he helped bring the data centers to the area, which was ripe for growth due to old infrastructure left by AOL.
The need for the centers is growing alongside the increased use of artificial intelligence, which needs to process and store an immense amount of digital information. To process and store an immense amount of digital information, the centers consume tremendous amounts of both power and water, which is used to cool down the servers.
Demand for AI technology is so high, one market research group predicts that capital spending on data centers worldwide will top $1 trillion annually by 2029.
Data centers have also changed the landscape. Industrial strength transmission lines crisscross the county, pushing power consumption up 240% over 5 years, according to county data.
Loudoun County resident Ben Keethler bought his home in 2014 because it had a view of bucolic farmland. Now the neighborhood sledding spot he overlooks also has a view of a boxy data center under construction. It’s among more than 100 new ones coming to the county.
“I don’t mind driving through an industrial zone where these facilities are situated properly, but when they start to come up directly on your community, you just can’t leave it,” Keethler said.
Northern Virginia is home to the highest concentration of data centers in the world. Loudoun officials tout the benefits, saying the centers generate a third of the county budget on just 3% of land.
And yet, Buddy Rizer admits he has regrets.
“I think if we had to do it over again, we would do it a little bit different… There’s definitely instances where land has gotten too close to residential,” Rizer said.
There are also major environmental concerns.
“A single data center building is using as much as a city worth of power,” said Julie Bolthouse, director of land use for the Piedmont Environmental Council.
Bolthouse advocates for people who live near the booming industry. She pointed out a recreational trail that used to feel rural before a data center moved in.
“Once you start to deteriorate the community to the point where you’re pushing people out, what is the value of that tax revenue anymore?” Bolthouse said.
As his home’s view changed, so has Ben Keethler’s perspective. He owns an IT company, so his own livelihood depends on the centers. But when one became his neighbor, he ran for president of his homeowners association and took a seat on a county zoning board.
“I bought this property because it was one that had a viewshed and something that I can relax. I look outside now and I see [the data center] and I go, huh,” Keethler said.
It’s the pursuit of balance between community preservation and the growing need to keep a digital world connected.
